All that the Chiloane family wants is their child back after he went missing. " We want our son to be brought back dead or alive," says Matilda Chiloene, the aunt of the missing seven year old, Lesedi Chiloane. This family, from Mpumalanga, has been haunted by sleepless nights wondering where Lesedi could be. Speaking to Zimoja, a drained Matilda, who is the elder sister to Lesedi's mother, says the family needs answers and Lesedi's mom is distraught as she wonders where her son could be. She explains that Lesedi went missing on 28 August.                                                                                                                                                                                              "My son and Lesedi had gone out to play at a neighbour's house. They usually have their breakfast around 9am and that's when they came back home," says Matilda, adding that her son came into the house without Lesedi and when she asked him where Lesedi was, he said he was at the gate.
" I told him to go and call Lesedi so they could eat, he went out but came back without him. He said he was not there. We went looking for him and thought he had gone back to play."
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NO TRACE OF LESEDI

Matilda says around 10:30am she became worried because she knows Lesedi loves to eat.
"He never skips a meal, no matter how much he is enjoying whatever game he is playing. He always made sure he came home to eat. It gave us comfort that he played nearby and wouldn't disappear for long," she says.
She says she started calling relatives who stay around to check if he wasn't there but none of them had seen him.
"We went to the police station to open a missing person's case and the police have been helpful ever since. They've been giving us updates on leads they are following but so far they haven't come to us with anything solid," says Matilda.

IT'S NOT MAKING SENSE

She says Lesedi was wearing a grey jersey and denim the last day they saw him.
" Whoever took him must please bring him back, even if he's dead. We need closure as family. His mother is not okay and just wants to see her child."
Matilda says even her son is not coping and seeing psychologists.
" All this isn't making sense to my son and we don't know what to say to him anymore." she says. Matilda says she is grateful for all the help they've been getting from the community in searching for Lesedi.
She says all their efforts were heartwarming and appreciated.                                                                                                                                                                              “The little boy reportedly went missing at Chochocho Trust near Masoyi on Sunday, 28 August 2022,.The case was assigned to the Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences Unit. Since the victim went missing, police, in collaboration with relevant stakeholders, as well as members of the community, have been hard at work searching for the victim but the child has not yet been found,” says Mpumalanga Police Spokesperson Brigadier Selby Mohlala.

MISSING CHILDREN IN SOUTH AFRICA

According to Missing Children South Africa, a child goes missing every five hours in South Africa and statistics indicates that 77% of children are found. "Sadly, this still leaves us with at least 23% of the children being either never found, trafficked or found deceased," the site says. Who can blame the panic in Lesedi's family when little Amahle Thabethe has been missing for over three years after she was lured by a man, while playing with friends outside her yard in Tsakane, East Rand.